


retrospect

by lupinely



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, again., friendship! time apart! babies! why!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-25
Updated: 2015-03-25
Packaged: 2018-03-19 15:19:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3614754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lupinely/pseuds/lupinely
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After being appointed Southern Water Tribe representative on the United Republic Council, Sokka doesn’t leave Republic City for seven years.</p><p> </p><p>  <em>A long time ago, Toph had leaned against the doorway, watched Suki help Sokka pack for his trip the Fire Nation, and said, “You realize this makes you the Fire Lord’s consort, right?”</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	retrospect

 

 

 

He’s the youngest representative on the United Republic Council in Republic City history. Sokka doesn’t know why this surprises him, really; it’s not like Republic City has had a long history, or that the friends of Avatar Aang aren’t often noteworthy for being the first or the youngest or the best in record history for doing whatever they do. It’s just that it usually isn’t _Sokka_ who’s the youngest—it’s Toph or Katara or Aang. Even Zuko wasn’t the youngest Fire Lord in history, but he ended the Hundred Year War with Aang, so he’s got accolades enough probably.

Sokka’s still young, which is maybe the surprising thing. He’s twenty-eight and the youngest councilor in history, and he should really feel better prepared for this than he is. He's served as advisor to the Fire Lord since he was seventeen and worked for a decade to establish Republic City with Aang and Toph, but: there it is. He’s nervous; sixteen years old again and trying to lead a small military strike team against the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun and failing.

Suki rolls over and kisses him on the nose. “Stop worrying and go to sleep,” she says sternly. “You’re keeping me awake.”

Sokka pulls her close to him. “You’re not going back to Kyoshi Island soon, are you?”

“Define ‘soon,’” Suki says.

“Ever,” Sokka says.

“Well,” says Suki, “unfortunately I don’t live my life by what Sokka wants.”

Sokka kisses her. “I wouldn’t want you to,” and then they fall asleep.

 

-

 

He doesn’t notice until Suki leaves several months later that he hasn’t actually been outside the city limits since his appointment. This wasn’t a sudden change; he’s been spending more time in the city as it has grown and developed. Republic City is Aang’s vision but it’s Sokka’s ingenuity and Toph’s hard work that really made the city work. Sokka can’t just leave the way he would when he was a teenager. He used to travel back and forth between Kyoshi Island to visit Suki and the Fire Nation Palace to sit on Zuko’s advisory council and the Southern Water Tribe to oversee construction there and then back to Republic City. He never spent more than three months in any one place back then, bouncing all over the globe like it was still the war and he was still sixteen. Now he’s been half a year in Republic City, and half a year turns to a full year, then nearly two.

 _I’ll take time off when I get the chance,_ he tells himself.

“Sure,” Toph says. She kicks her feet up on the table. She’s in her uniform, metal from head to toe. “That’s what we all say. That’s what Twinkletoes told me five years ago.”

“I’m not the Avatar,” Sokka says. “I have stuff I care about other than my job.”

“So does Aang,” Toph says. “So do I. And yet here we are.”

There they are. And there they end up staying for yet another year.

“When do you think Suki’s coming next?” Toph asks. She doesn’t write many letters seeing as she needs to dictate them to someone else and she hates doing that with anyone but Katara, but she tends to tack on a message to the end of Sokka’s letters. If Sokka draws hearts in the corners, Toph doesn’t have to know.

“Soon,” Sokka says, because that’s all Suki had said in her last letter, _soon_. Define ‘soon.’

Toph sighs. “Hanging out with you is no fun when Suki isn’t here.”

“Hey,” Sokka protests, and Toph grins.

 

-

 

He writes letters to Gran Gran, to Suki, to Teo in the Northern Air Temple (where the first of the Air Acolytes have been established), to a few others, and to Zuko. He writes to Zuko a lot, actually. Sokka is still officially on the Fire Lord’s list of confidential advisors, even though he hasn’t been to a session in—wow, a long time. Their letters are mostly business. Running a country is a lot of work. Sokka doesn’t envy Zuko it at all, though he can tell Zuko wouldn’t have it any other way. Zuko works too hard, that much is clear; still carrying all that guilt of his ancestor’s crimes on his shoulders, still consumed with his own self-perceived failings as a leader even though the Fire Nation has done nothing but good in the years since the war.

("You can’t change the past, though," Zuko said, a long time ago. He was still a teenager. "I can’t change the things the Fire Nation did. The genocide, the war, the chaos...."

"No, I guess not," Sokka had told him. "No one’s asking you to, though. Just to change the present, and the future."

"I’m asking myself to," Zuko said grimly, and that was that.)

When Sokka does get a message from Zuko that isn’t business, it’s short, but also more than enough.

_Sokka,_

_Councilor, huh? I could’ve told them to give you that appointment years ago. You’re half the reason I can even do my job. You deserve this. I can’t wait to visit the city and see what you and Aang and Toph and Katara have accomplished there._

(Empty promises; Zuko’s so busy traveling through the old Fire Nation now returned to the Earth Kingdom, attempting to bring support and reform to them as well as in his nation proper that he doesn’t have time to sleep, let alone take a week off to see Sokka in Republic City. Sokka still thinks about it anyway: all the places he’d take Zuko, how proud Zuko would be to see Toph’s police force and Air Temple Island.)

_I miss all of you. I miss you specifically, though._

_-Zuko_

Sokka writes back in the margins of an official advisor recommendation.

_Sweet talker. I’m definitely going to have time off soon, so maybe I’ll swing by the palace. Check up on official business._

He doesn’t get time off. He turns thirty in Republic City surrounded by all his friends and family. Almost all.

 

-

 

A long time ago, Toph had leaned against the doorway, watched Suki help Sokka pack for his trip the Fire Nation, and said, “You realize this makes you the Fire Lord’s consort, right?”

Sokka has a coughing fit that unfortunately doesn’t make anyone forget what Toph just said. “I’m Zuko’s _advisor_. I have to travel there sometimes to do advisorly things.”

“Right,” Toph says. “And you sleep with him, and he’s married. So—consort. Advisor slash consort, if that makes you feel any better.”

Suki is giggling. Sokka glares at her, and she turns towards Toph to hide her mirth. Toph winks at her.

“Mai knows,” Sokka says, “it’s not like—and Mai has her own consort, then, if you want to be all—” He flails; _“gross_ about it.”

“I’m just being accurate.” Toph is grinning. “You’re the Fire Lord’s boy toy.”

“No,” Suki says; “he’s _our_ boy toy. He’s the Fire Lord’s _consort.”_ And then she and Toph dissolve into another fit of giggles.

Sokka groans and flops back onto the bed. “I hate you both.” He’s twenty-two years old, deeply involved in the process of establishing Republic City as well as helping another twenty-two year old run an entire country, and he might also have accidentally, without noticing, become the Fire Lord’s consort.

“Shit,” he says at the ceiling, and Suki doubles over with laughter.

 

-

 

They make Toph the chief of police and she forms a metalbending task force that basically kicks ass up and down the streets of Republic City’s well-known criminal territories. Crime drops by twenty percent the first four months alone.

“You’ve been running the police for years,” Suki says; “I’m glad someone finally noticed and started paying you better for it.”

“Is that your way of telling me you’re proud of me?” Toph digs, because Toph always digs.

“Nah.” Suki kisses Toph on the cheek. “I’ll say that when I take you out for dinner tonight.”

The tips of Toph’s ears turn pink.

“How come you never blush when I say nice things about you, Toph?” Sokka asks musingly. “I feel like you used to do that. Didn’t she used to blush when I said nice things about her, Suki?”

“Dunno what you’re talking about.” Suki has slipped one of her hands into Toph’s, trying to hide this behind their backs while she grins at Sokka.

 

-

 

Not long after Sokka turns thirty-one, Sokka, Aang, Katara, Suki, and Toph get a letter from Zuko and Mai telling them that Mai is pregnant with the heir the Fire Nation has been clamoring for.

(“What, am I not good enough for them?” Zuko had asked Sokka once, jokingly.

“Nah, they love you,” Sokka had said. “They love you so much they can’t wait to make statues of you and have holidays in your name, but they can’t do that till you retire. Hurry up and get old already.”)

He should take time off. He has some accrued—has quite a bit. But none of the other councilors ever leave the city, and Aang doesn’t, and neither does Toph. Suki does, but that’s because she lives on Kyoshi Island and the warriors there are her whole heart. Sokka feels like his heart is in so many pieces, scattered all over the damn globe: Republic City, the Southern Water Tribe. The Fire Nation Royal Palace.

A few months later, Sokka gets a letter from Zuko telling him that Izumi has been born.

_She’s beautiful. I almost don’t know what to do with her. I’m thinking of asking Katara to become my official baby advisor, or maybe Aang. Tell them I’m sorry I haven’t been to see Bumi or Kya in so long, by the way. Trust me when I say I want to more than anything._

_Mai asked about you. “Thought he’d be here for this.” I couldn’t tell if she was serious or not. Ty Lee laughed. Even Azula looked less annoyed than usual._

_I sort of thought you would be here, too. It’s okay though. I know the deal. I’m worse at getting time away than you are. Keep writing me, unless you’re bored of me by now._

There’s a picture of Izumi attached. She is beautiful. Sokka, Suki, and Toph all drink to her health and good fortune, and Suki and Toph don’t point out how watery Sokka’s eyes are, which he appreciates.

 

-

 

A year and a half later, Tenzin is born and Katara gets time off to travel with her children to see Gran Gran in the South Pole and afterwards to see Zuko and Izumi in the Fire Nation.

“You should come with us,” Katara tells Sokka. She’s bouncing Tenzin on her hip, and he’s airbending her hair loopies into spirals. She looks very tired, but happy. “Gran Gran keeps telling me to bring you, says she’s not gonna be around forever, you know.”

Sokka feels a pang of guilt at that. “You know I can’t leave for a month, Katara.”

“Neither can I,” Katara says; “I’m doing it anyway, though.” And she smiles and takes his hand. “Oh, big brother. When did you start being the responsible one?”

“I dunno,” Sokka says. “Can you take it back, though?” And she laughs.

Katara writes him from the Fire Nation. _Izumi’s getting so big! You should see Zuko with her. Don’t tell him I said this but I’ve never seen anything more awkwardly adorable. He loves her so much but it’s clear he’s a little afraid of her, like he can’t believe she’s real. You’d love her, she’s so bright and curious and smart. Keeps setting the curtains on fire, though. Apparently Zuko used to do that when he was a kid._

_She and Kya get on like a house on fire. Maybe I should reconsider that simile. Tenzin and Zuko get along the best, just sitting there making serious faces at each other and nodding. Bumi has been asking everyone so much about ‘Uncle Iroh’ that I’m pretty sure he’s got a new life hero._

_I really wish you were here. Zuko does too, though he doesn’t say it. Why didn’t you tell me you and him were—well, whatever you are, anyway? You know I don’t care about you and Suki and Toph and I’m glad you’re all happy. How long has this been going on, anyway? You and I are going to talk when I get back!_

_All my love, Katara._

Sokka scrawls back a simple message: _Please don’t make me talk about my romantic life, Katara, I’m begging you. Give Izumi a kiss for me. And tell Zuko to lighten up and tell his daughter a joke once in a while._

 

-

 

Toph catches him writing letters. He keeps scratching them out and starting over and then crumpling them up and tossing them across the room into the trash. She walks in right as he throws his fourth balled up letter, and he’s about to miss the bin when she slams her foot onto the floor, knocking the bin up into the air to catch the crumpled letter before it falls back to the floor with a loud thump.

“Thanks,” Sokka says. He puts his pen down as discreetly as he can and hopes, somehow, that Toph doesn’t know what he’s been doing.

He’s not that lucky. “You’re a goddamn idiot,” Toph says. She sits next to him, heavily, and starts unbuckling her shoes. They’re specially-made to not have soles. She only wears them because the dress code at the police station won’t let her go completely barefoot even though she’s tried at least three times to change the policy.

“Yeah,” Sokka says. “Probably.”

Toph hums something in response. Then she puts her feet up on the arm of the couch and puts her head on Sokka’s lap. He’s so surprised at first that he doesn’t know what to do.

“Are you trying to make me feel better?” he asks finally, teasingly.

Toph scoffs. “I’m trying to make _me_ feel better,” she says. “I had such a shit day at work. Tell me about all the boring council stuff you’ve been doing so I don’t have to think about it any more.”

So Sokka tells her. And he sees right through her, too, because he does feel better.

 

-

 

When Sokka is almost thirty-four—when thinking about places other than Republic City has become a sort of sore spot, an old toothache you keep tonguing over and over—Toph shows up at Sokka’s apartment, sits down heavily at the table, and tells him and Suki: “I’m having a baby.”

Sokka and Suki stare at her, wide-eyed.

She sounds exhausted, sad. “There was a guy—whatever, he doesn’t matter. He ran off anyway. Apparently banging a blind chick is all well and good until it gets a little too real.” She laughs. “I thought I should tell you though. Considering—well, considering that it’s happening and it’s not…yours.”

“Of course it’s ours,” Suki says. She takes Toph’s hand. “I mean, if you’re okay with that. With us.”

And Toph smiles, just a little. “I didn’t want to ask. It’s a lot, and I’m….”

“Hey,” Sokka says. “You’ve got us. It’s going to be fine.”

Toph makes a face. “You say that _now.”_

“I’m great with kids,” Sokka says defensively. “I babysit Tenzin and Bumi and Kya all the time.”

“I hate to break it to you, Snoozles, but parenting is a little different from babysitting,” Toph says.

“I always wanted to be a dad,” Suki says. “C’mon, Toph. You know we’re with you on this one. On everything.”

Toph squeezes Suki’s hand, trying to hide her happiness and, as per usual around Suki and Sokka, failing.

“Man, the baby daddy doesn’t know what he’s missing,” Sokka says, and he feels like his heart is full enough to burst. “This is gonna be the best family ever.”

“Shut up, you saps,” Toph says, and punches Sokka on the shoulder.

“Ow.” He rubs his arm, then looks back over at Suki. “Seems like everyone’s having babies but you these days, Suki. Whaddya say?”

But Suki is smiling. “I’m pretty sure I just said I’m having this baby,” she says, and Sokka can’t really argue with that.

 

-

 

He writes to Zuko because he feels like he should and he knows that Toph won’t.

_We’re having a baby. Or rather Toph is having a baby, and we don’t know or care who the dad is because Suki and I are gonna be its dads. Strange, huh? This is gonna throw Katara for another loop. She should be glad that we keep her life so interesting._

_Suki and I have already decided to take time off when the baby is born. And then—who knows?—maybe I’ll be able to come see you._

The return message is short, simple enough. _I’d like that,_ it says. _And congratulations. Tell Toph I’m so happy for her._

 

-

 

Lin is possibly the best baby in the whole world. Not that Sokka is biased. But she rarely cries, and she only wakes up in the middle of the night every once in a while. After Katara and Aang’s kids, all of whom were fussy, Lin is basically a dream.

“She’s got my stoic charm,” Toph says. “It’s that Beifong blood, let me tell you.”

“And she’ll have Suki’s grace and my sparkling wit,” Sokka says. “Damn, no one’s gonna be able to stop this kid. We should have another.”

“Hell no,” Toph says from the other side of the room where she’s dressing Lin.

“Does the police force have bring your daughter to work day?” Suki asks. “Because I think Lin would look cute in the metal uniform.”

“Please stop talking,” Toph says. Suki grins as Sokka.

That night while Suki and Toph are out, Sokka rocks Lin to sleep. She fusses that night, which is unusual—maybe because her mom and other dad aren’t home. Sokka thinks that’s pretty cute, if that’s why.

“I can’t wait until you can talk,” Sokka tells Lin, who blinks up at him sleepily as he walks her in circles around the small kitchen. “I’m gonna teach you so many good jokes.”

Lin yawns in response.

“Okay,” Sokka says. He almost turns to put her into the crib and then he sits down on a couch in the living room instead. Turns off the lamp with his free hand as he holds Lin close. She’s so unbelievably tiny. It amazes him every time.

They fall asleep like that, the both of them: Sokka snoring and Lin drooling a tiny puddle on his shirt.

 

-

 

Three months into his paternity leave, Sokka comes home to the apartment where the three of them—the four of them, now—have been living even though Suki and Toph still have their own apartments to find Suki and Toph sitting at the kitchen table with a suitcase packed at their feet.

“Sparky won’t stop sending me sad lonely letters—that Suki has to read to me, I might add—about how much he misses all of us,” Toph says. “I’m not going anywhere at the moment, and Suki’s sick of traveling between Republic City and Kyoshi Island, and we got this little squirt to deal with, anyway. Consider this us kicking you out.”

“You can’t kick me out,” Sokka says. “This is my apartment. I pay the rent. I have bills.”

“Oh, quiet,” Suki says. “You know you want to go. It’s been seven years, Sokka.”

And—it has been, at that.

 

-

 

Suki tells the press, because there’s always the press these days, clamoring for a story, that Sokka’s going to advise the Fire Lord in pressing political matters. It isn’t—it’s _true_ , just not the whole truth. Toph reads the news article with grandiose flair to tiny Lin, making air quotes with her fingers when she reads that Sokka has long been Fire Lord Zuko’s “trusted advisor.” Lin smiles toothlessly.

“That means he holds Zuko’s hand and tries to grab his ass in public without anyone noticing,” Toph explains.

“You can’t say that in front of a three month old,” Sokka says, mildly affronted.

“Why not?” Suki says. “She’s not gonna remember it anyway.”

Sokka pinches the bridge of his nose. “Come say goodbye to me before I miss my boat,” he says, and isn’t expecting it when Suki and Toph both descend on him and hug him close.

 

-

 

Sokka doesn’t tell Zuko he’s coming, though maybe Zuko hears it from the newspapers, or maybe not, because Sokka travels pretty fast. He shows up in the middle of the night, which is an accident, and instead of going to bed in the guest room that the staff has prepared for him, he paces around the room for a little bit and then goes down the hallway instead.

He knocks on Zuko’s door. He feels like an idiot. It’s been seven years and all they’ve done is write a few letters here and there. Sokka didn’t even show up for any of Izumi’s birthdays. Or Zuko’s. Or for anything, really. It’s hard to say now how it even happened, how seven years could have passed so quickly and so slowly. Sokka’s thirty-five years old; he and Zuko aren’t teenagers anymore, aren’t young and stupid twenty-somethings trying to fix the entire world with no one to trust but each other and their friends. Showing up in the middle of the night is pathetic, probably.

Zuko opens the door. He’s rubbing his eyes with the back of one hand, and his hair is mussed, far longer than Sokka has ever seen it. So Zuko was actually sleeping for once and Sokka went and screwed that up too.

It takes Zuko a moment to realize who is at his door, and he lets his hand fall. “Sokka.” The familiar rough rasp of his voice is so good to hear.

“Hey,” Sokka says. He rubs the back of his neck. “Um, I’m here. Finally. Surprise! Where’s Izumi?”

“Asleep,” Zuko says. “It’s the middle of the night.”

“Oh yeah.” Sokka looks at Zuko because that’s easier than trying to make this awkward situation less awkward, which might be impossible. Zuko looks tired, but still much the same; a little older, a little more lined at the corner of his eyes. His hair is tangled and shoulder length, no doubt kept tied back during the day, though it’s loose now.

“Damn,” Sokka says. “You got old.”

“I didn’t get old,” Zuko says. “You’re only a few months younger than me. If I’m old, then you’re old.”

“Okay,” Sokka says. “We’re not old, then.”

“It has been a long time, though,” Zuko says quietly, and there it is. There it is at last.

“Too long. Never again.” Sokka considers once more his doubts. “Unless you liked it that way.”

Zuko casts his gaze, briefly, towards the ceiling. “Sokka,” he says; “you’re an idiot,” and then he pulls Sokka in and kisses him.

“Missed you,” Zuko mumbles when he pulls back. His face is flushed. “Sorry my letters were so awful. I never knew what to say.”

“Neither did I,” Sokka says, and squeezes Zuko’s hand.

 

-

 

Mai doesn’t look surprised to find Sokka curled up in Zuko’s bed the next morning, though Zuko has long since woken and gotten dressed and is now reading by the bedside.

“Finally,” Mai says. “You wouldn’t believe how much he’s been whining about you.”

“I have not been _whining,”_ Zuko says.

“Pining, then,” Mai amends, and Zuko blushes adorably.

“Aw,” Sokka says. “You did miss me.”

“I thought I made that fairly obvious.” The color is still high in Zuko’s cheeks.

“Yikes,” Mai says dryly. “Please continue your tearful reunion without me. I’m going to wake Izumi,” and she departs.

Sokka and Zuko look at each other. “We weren’t tearful,” Zuko says.

“Definitely not,” Sokka says, although, maybe. He pats the empty bed beside him, and Zuko curls up next to him like a cat. Or a dragon.

“When can I see Izumi?” Sokka asks.

“After breakfast. Or during breakfast if you get your lazy ass out of bed.”

Sokka hums noncommittally in response. “We’ll see about that.” He digs his fingers into Zuko’s hair. There’s so _much_ of it. Honestly, who needs this much hair? Zuko bites back a smile, so obviously that makes Sokka grin again.

“Hey,” Sokka says seriously after a moment, because—well, because it needs to be asked. “Does this make me like—the Fire Lord’s consort?”

Zuko mutters something under his breath. “I swear I got all the staff to stop calling you that.”

“I am!” Sokka says. “Holy shit, I _am_ the Fire Lord’s consort.” He considers for a moment. “Nice.”

“I can’t believe you’re okay with that,” Zuko says.

Sokka shrugs. “So long as no one tells Aang, I’m good.”

 

-

 

He cries when Izumi holds her arms up to him, demanding to be picked up.

Zuko sighs. “Katara told me you were a baby crier.”

Sokka sniffs mightily. “I am not a baby crier,” he says stoutly, and Izumi, four years old, giggles at him.

Mai is pinching the bridge of her nose in disbelief. “This is what you whined about for seven years, Zuko?”

“Aw, come on, Mai,” Sokka says, Izumi bouncing on his hip. “Didn’t you miss me at least a little bit?”

“Not even remotely.” But the left corner of her mouth quirks.

It’s good to see them again—all of them. Izumi for the first time, technically, save for the portrait of her as an infant.

“You gonna tell him the good news?” Mai tilts her head at Zuko, who hesitates.

“I was gonna, soon,” but Mai interrupts him.

“We’re coming to Republic City.” She smiles at Izumi, who is grabbing Sokka’s hair. “Official word is it’s Fire Lord business, because what isn’t, these days?” She sounds a little tired of it, but somewhat pleased as well.

“Republic City is a symbol of everything the end of the Hundred Year War is supposed to be,” Zuko demures; “it’s not right that I haven’t been there in so long.”

“Yes, yes,” Mai says, brushing him aside. “And we want to see all of you, some of us have been pining very desperately and without any dignity at all, etc. We’re going back to the city with you, is what we’re saying.”

Sokka bats Izumi’s hands away. “Finally,” he says, even though that feels like barely enough to say all that he means, all that he feels.

 

-

 

But when they arrive together in Republic City—Sokka, Zuko, Mai, and Izumi—and see who’s gathered at the dock to meet them—Aang, Katara, Toph, Suki, and all the kids, looking tired and pleased and expectant—Sokka thinks, _more than enough._

 

 

 


End file.
